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>> 1.29.2011

It's the first day of the Draft-y season: Senior Bowl Day! I hope you've been following along with the practice reports--if not, I can heartily recommend Michael Schottey's Bleacher Report page, DraftTek.com, the Scout.com folks, and Wes Bunting at the National Football Post, just to name a few.

Real scouts and evaluators look just as hard, if not harder, at the week of practices as they do the game. However, as merely an interested observer, the game is the best chance I get to see these guys in action, next to each other.

It's important to put it all into perspective, though--even guys who dominate at the Senior Bowl, like Brandon Graham did last year, can still struggle to make an immediate impact. Don't come away with the idea that any of these guys are going to solve an immediate problem for the Lions--be thinking three years ahead.

I'll likely be Tweeting live as the event goes down, so tune in at 4:00 on NFLN, and follow me @lionsinwinter.